A/N: It has been a while since I last updated (like 10 days...)! Anyways, thanks to everyone for the votes, follows, and comments! You guys have seriously made me happy :) And thanks for adding my fanfic to your library.
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Thanks for the support! Here's chapter 17 :)
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I watched as Aomine walked onto the court with a smirk plastered on his face. I growled lowly under my breath as I jogged after him towards Hyuga.
“Hey, Tetsu.” Aomine’s deep voice rumbled. “It’s good to see you again. I was wondering what face you’d make.”
He and Kuroko had a short conversation, though it was more one-sided on Aomine’s part. During that time, I had closed my eyes and slowed my breathing down. Hyuga noticed my silence and shook my shoulder.
“Oi, are you sick? Dizzy? Masa –” Hyuga was cut short when I snapped my teeth at him. My eyes were still closed.
“Shut it, Captain. I am seconds from tearing this court up with the players on it.” My voiced dropped to a whisper. “I’m trying to control myself while I am in the zone.”
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“Guard him!” I shouted at Izuki, motioning towards the “apologetic mushroom” as Hyuga called him. Izuki nodded, rushing towards him while I ran towards #7, Susa Yoshinori. The moment Sakurai received the ball from Susa, I immediately noticed something off.
The balance is off! There are too many of us all on this side! This is isolation, which allows Touou’s special players to move freely while the others gather to one side. It’s a one-on-one between Kagami and Aomine.
I quickly faked to the right, leading Wakamatsu away from the net. He followed me, blocking me with his arms. But because my body was smaller, more agile, and lighter, I broke free from his trap.
Wakamatsu realized that I was breaking towards Aomine and shouted, “Aomine! Your right!” Aomine whipped his head to the side, breaking his stare-off with Kagami to see me reaching for the ball. With his attention diverted away, Kagami stole it from Aomine’s left and ran towards the opposite net.
Aomine sprinted towards Kagami, intending to block him off but I cut in front of his path.
“Tch, a brat like you think that you can stop me? Not in a hundred years,” Aomine spat. I narrowed my dark pink eyes at him, not saying a word. I continued to hold him off, jumping in front of him every time he tried to break past me.
“Kagami, you better make it!” I shouted, running side-by-side with Aomine. Izuki and Hyuga became effective screens for Kagami while Kuroko ran towards the basket. I growled when Aomine bumped me with his larger body, making me stumble. He took that opportunity and broke free, charging towards the unsuspecting red-head.
“Kagami!” I shouted. Kagami turned his head around, noticing Aomine coming his way. I ran towards them, motioning for him to pass it Kuroko.
Kuroko punched the ball towards me, using his special pass. I caught the fast ball and aimed for a three-pointer. I jumped up, pointing my feet towards the ground like I would in ballet. I let the ball roll off my fingertips and watched it as the orange sphere arced high in the air.
“Block it!” Imayoshi demanded. My eyes zeroed in on the ball, watching it descend towards the net. Wakamatsu, being the tallest on his team, leapt up, determined to stop the ball.
“Swoosh.” The ball went in milliseconds after I uttered the onomatopoeia.
[Sakurai Ryo’s POV]
I whipped my head towards the short boy with cherry-colored hair after I heard him whisper to himself. I glanced back at the basketball that had just passed through our net and then back at him. Did he make the ball go in? What is he?
I edged closer to the boy. And then I saw it – his eyes. His eyes were a darker shade of pink than before, almost like a mix between black and red. He turned his gaze towards me and I quivered. H-his eyes!
“A-are you alright?” When he didn’t reply, I felt frightened. “I-I’m sorry!”
He raised an eyebrow at me before speaking, “What about my eyes?”
“T-the-they’re d-di-l-lated! Sorry!”
His eyes widened in surprise, which gave me a better look at his dark pupils. They were slowly dilating and then returning to normal, before dilating again. He turned his gaze away from mine, muttering something under his breath.
“A-are y-you f-fine?” I asked again.
“Yes, dammit!” He snapped. I cringed back, terrified.
“S-sorry!” I cried out. A deep voice behind us resonated, a voice that I knew very well.
“Oi, teme! You better not bother my teammate,” Aomine’s lazy voice was heard. I watched as the #3 from Seirin turned his gaze upon Aomine’s dark blue orbs.
“Tch,” he spat. I widened my eyes. Does he not care for his life?! Aomine just smirked as we watched the boy run back to his half of the court.
[Masami’s POV]
I ran back towards my teammates and scratched my head.
“Tch, this hair is killing me,” I muttered. Hyuga spared a glance in my direction.
“You can’t take it off, baka.” I glowered at the captain who was in clutch mode. “Don’t think that I’ve let you off earlier! You don’t disrespect your sempai!” Before I could even respond, Hyuga ran off to defend our net from Aomine, who had just broken past Kagami. I ran over to help Hyuga just as Aomine paused for a second in front of the captain. With a smirk, Aomine twisted his body around Hyuga, effortlessly running by.
I focused my gaze on the approaching figure of Aomine and bared my teeth at him. The tanned giant didn’t even take a second to prepare himself – he jumped before he had even reached to where I was. I ran forward, determined to stop his dunk.
I roared when I jumped up towards Aomine. My fingers touched the ball and I angled my body at a slight to fall down faster. I forced the ball away from the net, pushing it towards Kagami.
“So high! That’s impossible for his height!” I heard the players on the court shout. Our feet landed on the ground with a thud – mine was a bit more graceful. I landed with my knees bent, softening the harsh impact while Aomine stumbled backwards in shock.
Kagami passed the ball to Hyuga, who shouted, “Go! Fast break!” The ball flew across the court to Izuki. My eyes narrowed when I saw three Touou players block Izuki.
“You can take your fast break and shove it!” Wakamatsu cackled. I smirked the moment I saw Kuroko running towards the basket. Izuki passed the ball towards our bluenette behind his back. My smirk widened when Kuroko fast-palmed the ball, sending it straight to Kagami.
“What was that?!” Imayoshi shouted. I ran past him, replying, “It’s only a pass that Kagami and I can catch. It futile for anyone else to intercept. It’s the ‘Ignite Pass’.”
Kagami turned around and jumped, intending to dunk the ball. My eyes widened, No! Aomine should not have been able to reach it! The ball was slapped away from Kagami, bouncing on the ground. Just then, the buzzer rang.
“Oh? It’s over? I was going to score one as a quick warm up. Tch, what is this?” Aomine turned around to face us. “Pretty good, though. At ten points behind, I though you guys must suck, but you’re not bad, are you?”
“Hey, you bastard!” I shouted. Everyone looked at me in shock.
“O-oi, what do you think you’re doing, Masa-kun?” Izuki whispered. He reached a hand out to touch my shoulder but I slapped his hand away. I stomped up closer to Aomine and gave him my death-stare.
“If you think that there’s no one who can beat you, look at the team in front of you. You’re nothing but a self-conceiting, stupid, rude, and an aho! You Aho-mine!” I shouted.
Aomine narrowed his eyes at me. “Ehh? What are you saying, you brat? Go back to the playground, little kid.” My vision began to switch between being focused and unfocused. I was getting a bit dizzy but I didn’t let that faze me.
“At least I didn’t get punched by a girl,” I smirked. I didn’t get to see the look on Aomine’s face since Kagami picked me up and sling me over his shoulder.
“Put me down, baka! I said put me down!” I pounded my fists on his back, only to earn a slap on the ass.
“As much as I want to help you pound his face in, we’ll get banned from the court if we do anything rash,” Kagami reasoned. Kuroko trailed alongside us, “I agree with Kagami-kun. We need you on the court, not on the bench because of Aomine-kun. Please don’t do anything rash.”
Kagami carried me over to the bench, where an angry Riko and Hyuga stood. Kagami placed me down and I was immediately pounced by Riko and Hyuga.
“You baka! What if you got kicked off the court!?!” Riko demanded, grabbing me in a headlock.
“Yeah, you aho! Is this how you respect your sempais?!” Hyuga added in.
“It’s not like I punched him or anything. I didn’t have physical contact.” I pouted.
“Teme! The last time we saw him, you punched him in the cheek!” Kagami accused. I began to sweat bullets the second a scary glint appeared in my sempais’ eyes.
“You did what?” Riko grinned evilly at me, cracking her knuckles. I cried out in terror as she dragged me to the locker room with the others following behind.
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“Good work out there, everyone! I need you to be replenished for the second half, so I made you these!” Riko held out a small container with a grin on her face. Hyuga excitedly took it from her hands and pried the lid open.
“We’re always telling you to slice them!” Tears flowed down Hyuga’s and Koganei’s faces as Kagami looked at the honey-soaked lemons in disgust. I chuckled, opening my duffle bag up. Spotting the container I was looking for, I took it out and opened it.
“I washed them, so you can eat the skin,” Riko scratched her head in embarrassment.
“Mitobe, do you have some?” Izuki hurried over to Mitobe’s side. The said boy nodded his head and took out his container from the locker.
“Waah! It’s perfect!” The boys chorused.
“Mitobe, I’m so glad you’re on our team!” Hyuga declared joyfully with tears in his eyes.
I laughed silently, taking out a slice of my own lemon. “Mmhmm!” I groaned with happiness.
“Eh?!? You brought some and you didn’t share?!” Koganei exclaimed, pointing at me. I had three slices of lemon in my mouth. “Are they edible?”
I nodded my head and soon enough, everyone moved over to me to take some honey-soaked lemons.
“They’re as good as Mitobe’s!”
Riko clapped her hands to get our attention. “Kuroko, you’ve played the entire first quarter, so I’m going to take you out. You need to rest.” She turned her attention to me, “Masami-chan, I need you to cool down. I can’t have you out there yelling at Aomine. I’m going to take you out.”
“No! Please let me play for the entire second half!” Kuroko and I both pleaded.
“I will do anything –” I began.
“–to beat Aomine-kun,” finished Kuroko.